This invention relates to food processors and more particularly relates to manual type food processors where blades are downwardly forced onto food product to cut it, chop it or tenderize it. The invention especially relates to mechanical meat tenderizers where a plurality of knives are inserted into meat product to cut tough fibrous material to make the meat easier to chew.
Numerous food processors are known where blades are manually forced downwardly onto food product to cut, chop or tenderize it. For example, meat tenderizer apparatuses are known that have a plurality of knives that are forced into the meat as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,841 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,717. Such tenderizer apparatuses have a significant disadvantage in that it is very difficult to thoroughly clean them and it is very difficult to replace the blades. Certainly replacement of the blades is sufficiently inconvenient that blades of different configurations for different functions could not routinely be changed during use of the apparatus. A review of U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,841 for example shows that to remove blades, screws 23 and 25 must be removed, members 19 and 21 must be separated, blades 35 and spacers 31 and 32 must be disassembled, blades 35 must be pulled from plate 13, new blades 35 must then reinserted into plate 13 and then reassembled with spacers 31 and 32 and members 19 and 21 and screws 23 and 25 must be replaced. As a further concern during blade replacement, care must be taken to avoid accidental disassembly of springs 59, tubes 61 and plungers 65, or much more effort and at least some skill will be required for their reassembly. It should be further noted that reinsertion of blades 35 into plate 13 is no simple task since the blades readily become misaligned and thus do not easily fit back into slots 57. This is further aggravated by the fact that points on blades 35 readily catch on the sides of slots 57 thus making reassembly by inserting pointed ends of the blades into the slots impracticably difficult. Insertion of the blades into the slots 57 must thus be done from the ends of the blades opposite the points prior to reassembly with spacers 31 and 32 and members 19 and 21.
Disassembly for cleaning and reassembly after cleaning is similarly difficult.
As a further disadvantage, the complex assembly structure of the apparatus described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,841, make initial assembly for new products difficult thus adding significant cost to the product.
Cleaning and replacement of blades in the apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,717 is no better. In this case a single cartridge unit 12 is used that has a plate holder 14 and a cutter plate 13 with integral cutting blades 15. Multiple units 12 are used if a plurality of parallel blades series are desired. To remove the blades, screws 23, 24 and 28 must be removed, followed by separation of cover case member 22 into two halves 22a and 22b giving access to side case members 21 which must be separated to give access to cartridge units 12. The separation of side members 21 almost automatically results in at least partial disassembly of post members 17 from spring members 18, guide pins 39 and case member 22 which creates a serious reassembly problem. Replacement of blades may be accomplished by inverting the steps as described above with respect to disassembly; however, reversal of the steps is more difficult. In particular, it is very difficult to retain all parts in their proper positions while the case halves 22a and 22b are reassembled. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that the blades are difficult to simultaneously place in the slits 35 do to a high probability of misalignment and points of the blades tend to catch in slits 35 in a manner similar to that described with respect to U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,841 above. Tapering of the slits near their tops in fact does not help as the points of the blades are even more likely to become stuck on the more horizontally oriented tapered surfaces. The use of the cartridge having plate holder 14 causes a further problem in that it is not even possible to insert the blades from an end opposite the blade points, i.e. the plate holder 14 cannot be inserted through the slits 35 that are narrower than the plate holder.